Dozens killed as Tiger boats sunk in navy battle

Sri Lanka's military sank five Tamil Tiger boats yesterday, killing as many as 50 rebels, in retaliation for a rebel attack that sank a navy vessel, killing 17 sailors.

The Sri Lankan government also dispatched fighter jets to bomb rebel territory, after the worst naval battle since a truce four years ago.

The rebels sank the vessel in an attack on a navy convoy that was protecting a ship carrying army personnel from Point Pedro in the northern peninsula of Jaffna to the north-eastern Trincomalee, said a spokeswoman for the Sri Lanka monitoring mission. A truce monitor was aboard the vessel.

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